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Dominion

The study of evolution examines the past, but what about the future? Paul Ehrlich, professor of population studies and biological sciences at Stanford University, discusses how the human ability to adapt to the environment could have catastrophic consequences. He and Anne Ehrlich are the authors of The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment (Island Press, 2008.)

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NP
from Brooklyn

Evolutionary psychology is a vibrant frame by which to view human behavior. It's a new science, and as such, is completely foreign to blinkered types like Ehrlich, who espouse a 19th Century clunky way of thinking. To dismiss it as "bunk," is as dumb as claiming we would be dead in 1970 from overpopulation.

I commend you for putting Professor Ehrlich on the show. I am so glad he said that the population is growing too fast. I think the Chinese and their one-child policy is the only way to stop the unlimited growth of the planet. The economic, environmental and psychological harm it is doing to the generations to come is catastrophic. I only wish he had the ear of the governments of all the nations of the world. Thank you again for having this subject discussed. I have asked repeatedly for the topic of population control to be discussed. Please have more on the subject.

I feel the conversation should have been more in depth in regard to cultural evolution...how cultural practices propagate themselves through humanity..be it religion, politics or any social convention. Sometimes it's mutually beneficial and symbiotic; other times parasitic, furthering the practice ultimately at the expense of people. Usually why a practice survives because it does have some net benefit. Though over a longer time frame it may be very self-destructive. For the most part, emotional identification with culture group overrides rational judgment. This is such an important topic and large in scope. If this awareness cannot be popularized and introduced we are simply doomed!!!

Today's conversation was really short and focused on population in a pretty topical, generalized way I thought and did not shed much light on the mechanics of cultural evolution.

Have to disagree with Paul Ehrlich on E.O. Wilson's "science" when On Human Nature came out. Richard Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould were among many scientists who shredded the Wilsonian just-so stories of human behavior.

The simple fact is that overpopulation did not turn out to be the "bomb" Erlich claimed it was. His chutzpah simply amazes me. The population bomb must be in same bunker as Saddam's WMDs. I love the way he hides behind the fact other scientists felt the same way. What does that say about the notion of "scientific consensus" as an arbiter of public policy.

I wonder if Mr. Ehrlich has any thoughts on the use of so-called psychedelics as catalysts of cultural evolution. The escape of LSD from the lab in the 60s arguably sparked the most rapid cultural evolution in generations and perhaps sped up the technological revolution and the green revolution. Could these so-called drugs be ways to reintroduce the concept of sacred to our culture and help wake people up to problems like over-population and the destruction of the systems that sustain us?

For a really good explanation of the process behind both genetic and cultural evolution, read Richard Wright's Non-Zero. The idea is that both life and culture tends towards complexity because of the trend for all entities, whether a molecule or society, to benefit from cooperative acitivities (non-zero sum activities, where both parties beenfit, rather than one). Cooperative breeds complexity. Human cultural evolution proceeds as it does because groups that work more cooperatively (which implies a high-degree of trust, sometims ensured through "laws") allow for more people to be part of the process, creating a positive feedback look and are more successful.

Peter is right - we're finished. China and India want more cars, refrigerators, and all that crap, and the first world does little to change its behavior. We tear up the earth to make sneakers with lights in them. George Carlin was right - the planet isn't going anywhere ... we are! Probably run out of drinking water first.

Critical Mass is a "protest rally"? C'mon, Brian. Critical Mass is a mass public bicycling event which can, admittedly, be annoying to a lot of people. But it's _not_ a "protest." (For some reason the website wouldn't let me comment under the Critical Mass section.)

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